A Monument and a Secret Waterfall

The kids had loved this spot so we wanted to share our love for this gorgeous place with the Ridds! Only about a half an hour away from our hotel was an anceient Monument built in the 1100s in honor of a beloved King and Queen and thier four sons AND the King’s four concubines.

It is quite a hike down 245 steps to the place that the Balinese consider sacred. It’s easy to see why when you see the fabulous scenery on the way.

Dana, of course, made it so fun for us! He has a wonderful sense of humor!

And here we are at the Monuments!  The two on the left (one a bit hidden) commemorate the king and queen and the ones on the right, the three sons. Three Universities in Bali are named for those boys!

From here it was off through the rice padis to the Secret Waterfall. We went here when we hd all the Eyrealm adults with us and had somuch fun wending our way to this beautiful waterfall. Dana said that people who didn’t live near the ocean used the waterfall for “soul cleansing.”

The last time we were here we walked right into a huge tropical rainstrom. We remembered that Dana found a huge leaf to serve as an umbrella for Baby Ezra while the rest of us got soaked to the bone. That was a fun day, as was this one!

Rick couldn’t resist getting in the waterfall to be “cleansed.” It takes a pretty big effort to get under that waterffall where there is a small cove and back out. Here’s going in and coming out:

 

Back in Ubud that afternoon we were desperate to find a TV to watch Federer play Djokavic play in the semi-final at the Australian Open. This was the biggest TV we could fin in that big village. We were sad to see Federer lose, but we did find some good food there! 

It was about here when we began mourning that we weren’t in Utah, seeing Max off to the MTC!  Shawni and Dave would soon be arriving at our house (we think) after just having doppped off their only son in Provo, who is leaving for his tw0-year missions to Taiwan.

With sad hearts we went back to our lovely hotel, emmersed in nature:

…and a nice cool shower after a sweaty-hot day!

We went to bed wondering what Shawni and Dave and Max were thinking and feeling pretty isolated!